Excerpts
from various YM disciplines on the subject of Spirit-led Vocal Ministry

The EARLY disciplinesof American YM's
(those written before the 1827 schism) have a great deal in common in structure
and language.The issue of
spirit-led ministry is addressed in sections specifically addressed to the
meeting's ministers & elders, as these are considered the members with
special responsibility for this area of meeting life.

Philadelphia
YM:"Ministers and elders watch over one
another for good, to help those who are exercised in the ministry in the right
line, discouraging forward spirits that run into words without life and power,
advising against affectation in tones and gestures."

Each of these
early American disciplines had special queries that were to be answered by the
committee of ministers and elders, such as these:

Baltimore
YM & New England YM:"Are ministers, in the exercise of
their gifts, careful to wait for divine ability and thereby preserved from
being burthensome?"["Divine
ability" is a term frequently used to refer to the specific calling from God to
speak during meeting.]

New York
YM [Do ministers
& elders] "discourage forward persons whose communications do not proceed
from the right authority?"[Are
the mtg's ministers] "careful to minister in the ability which truth gives?"

Later,
perhaps in response to the concerns generated by the Hicksite-Orthodox split,
the emphasis seems to shift from divine ability or leading to asking whether
ministry is "sound in word and doctrine".

I particularly
like this version from Virginia YM's
1814 discipline:[Ministers and
elders should exhort the meeting's ministers to] "earnestly seek the mind of
the spirit of truth to open the mysteries thereof, that abiding in a simple and
patient submission to the divine will, and keeping down to its opening of love
and life in themselves, they may witness a gradual growth in their gifts, and
be preserved from extending their declarations further than the power of truth
shall be experienced to accompany them."

Here are
three fine excerpts from MODERN DISCIPLINES

Pacific YM
(1985) and North
Pacific (1993)
include the query: "Is the vocal ministry exercised under the divine leading of
the Holy Spirit without pre-arrangement and in the simplicity and sincerity of
truth?"

New York
YM (1998) asks: "Are
we careful that our ministry is under the leading of the Holy Spirit?"Direction is also offered: "Friends are
advised to observe our Christian testimony for a faithful ministry of the
gospel under the influence of the Holy Spirit.Members are reminded that all have a responsibility in
ministry." This same query was strengthened in the 1986 revision of New
England's discipline.

A very
similar query was among the queries adopted jointly for use by the Hicksite and
Orthodox YM's of Philadelphia
in 1948 but was dropped from the 1997 revision.

(Although I
was unable to discern from those on the revision committee the reasons why it
was dropped, my strong suspicion is that this was due to a deep-seated
discomfort with "judging" the quality of others' spoken ministry within the
meeting.I attempted without
success to urge Philadelphia YM, which I was a member of at the time, to
reintroduce this important query to their discipline during a minor revision
around the year 2001.This is an
interesting commentary on the difficulty many Friends today have, even those on
ministry and worship committees, feeling the authority to actively nurture the
quality of waiting worship and vocal ministry within their meeting.)

Britain YM does not appear to address the issue
directly in its discipline.

Although Ohio
YM still has
committees of ministers & elders, its1992 discipline no longer has specific queries for
ministers & elders.Ohio'
general queries do not really address the quality of vocal ministry
directly.The following
instruction is provided, however, in the section on Meeting for Worship:"Though the nearness to God may result
in spoken ministry or vocal prayer, the distinctive excellence of heavenly
favor consists in the direct communication with the Heavenly Father by the
inward revelation of the Spirit of Christ."The same message is reinforced later:"Vocal service in such a meeting,
whether prayer or exhortation or teaching, should be uttered under the direct
guidance of the Holy Spirit."

Created for as a handout
for a course entitled "Gospel Order Exploring Some Challenging Issues in Quaker
Faith & Practice" offered at London Grove (PA) Meeting, Jan. 14-Mar.18,
2001.For the full curriculum for
this course see: Gospel Order
Course

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Quote that speaks to me

They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill what never dies. Nor can spirits ever be divided that love and live in the same Divine Principle; the Root and Record of their friendship. If absence be not death, neither is theirs. Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still. For they must needs be present, that love and live in that which is omnipresent. In this Divine Glass, they see face to face; and their converse is free, as well as pure. This
is the comfort of friends, that though they may be said to die, yet
their friendship and society are, in the best sense, ever present,
because immortal. - William Penn, More Fruits of Solitude, 1702.

Note: This passage was quoted by J.K.Rowling as the epigraph of her novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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